DCA As a Glycolitic Inhibitor Helps In Fighting Cancer

DCA The oncologist will tell you that finding a treatment that is effective in killing the cancer cells while safe on the healthy body cells was the biggest problem in the field of oncology. The cancerous cells just as much as the healthy cells need nutrients to continue living. The oncologists plus other medical researchers have noted that the best way to treat cancer without affecting the healthy body cells is to deny them the nutrients supplies so that they can be starved to death. The cancer cells and the body cells require glucose from which they can make the ATP energy that they need to survive on. This made it hard to deny the cancer cells their nutrient supplies while leaving the healthy body cells nutrient supply unaffected. But this was in the past. Cancer researchers have found some existing differences between the survival mechanisms of the cancerous cells and the healthy body cells. Otto Warburg discovered that the cancerous cells depended entirely on the glucose to survive without which it could not live while the healthy body cells could make other sources of energy and continue living even when the sugar sources of energy were withdrawn. This discovery has led to more selective killing of the cancer cells without affecting the living body cells. The cancerous cells undergo increased glycolysis and rely on this pathway for generation of ATP energy as their sole source of energy for growth and survival but the healthy body cells are flexible to switch to other sources like fats.

Since the discovery by Warburg, oncologists have come up with different cancer therapies to help in killing the cancer cells effectively without hurting the healthy body cells. Overdependence of the cancer cell on the glycolitic pathway for generation of ATP energy as the sole source of survival has provided a great loophole through which the cancer cells can be selectively killed without affecting any other healthy cell by inhibiting glycolysis. To do this, glycolitic inhibitors must be used in order to weaken the cancer cells by blocking their nutrient supplies which is an anticancer itself thereby killing the cancer cells more effectively.

Cancer cells are characterized by increased glycolysis therefore when glycolitic inhibitors are used the cancer cells have no other ways of survival therefore they will die out of starvation. This approach has also been applauded in killing of cancer cells with mitochondrial defects that have become resistant to chemotherapy and radiation therapy drugs.

It may not be easy to understand the molecular and biochemical mechanisms that lead to increased aerobic glycolysis in the cancer cells, the metabolic repercussions of this increased glycolysis is very clear. The malignant cells become dependent or other addicted to the glycolysis pathway as the sole source of ATP energy. Researchers opine that the increased glycolysis in cancer cells may be caused by such factors as; hypoxia, oncogenic signals as well as mitochondrial dysfunction.

It is a known fact that the cancer cells need more energy to survive than the healthy cells. In glycolysis the ATP produced per glucose are only 2 which means the cancerous cells must use lots of glucose to survive unlike in the oxidative phosphorylation which generates more ATP energy per glucose the . Here 36 ATP are produced per glucose therefore small amount of glucose is needed for survival. So without glycolitic pathways the cancer cells are doomed.

In case of is glycolytic inhibition the healthy body cells will be able to adapt to other metabolic pathways to generate the ATP energy through the TCA cycle and oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondria. The cancer cells however cannot adapt to other sources of ATP hence will die as they will not be able to live without another source of ATP energy. The healthy body cells will be able to adapt to new sources of energy like fatty acids and amino acids to produce metabolic intermediates channeled to the TCA cycle for ATP production through respiration. Glycolysis inhibition is therefore a clever way of killing the cancer cells without harm on the healthy body cells.

DCA is an effective glycolytic inhibitor

DCA works in very interesting ways in inhibiting glycolysis. It only leaves one option left for cancer cells to survive on- depending on other pathways as opposed to glycolysis. The cancer cells cannot do that hence they are killed. The healthy body cells can adapt to metabolic changes unlike the cancerous cells. The first way through which the body cells get energy is through glucose oxidation which happens in the mitochondria of every cell in the body and requires oxygen. Glucose respiration is the mostly utilized form of metabolism in the healthy cells. However in absence of oxygen the cells turn to glycolysis which takes place in the cell cytoplasm for energy generation. Glycolysis does not avail adequate ATP energy for normal cells; however it is the best for cancer cells. Glycolysis depends on sugar. This gives the healthy cell advantage as they have a backup plan in case the oxygen supply is interrupted. However to oxidize glucose there must be pyruvate. Pyruvate entry into the mitochondria is inhibited by an enzyme known as pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK). In case the PDK is strong then it will limit the transportation of pyruvate into the mitochondria and the healthy cells will have to depend on glycolysis even in presence of oxygen but incase its weak the pyruvate will be transported with ease to mitochondria even when the oxygen is low.

DCA Cancer cells have the most active PDK than the healthy cells and they are adapted to glycolysis. When PDK is weak then the cancer cells are disadvantaged and this is what the DCA does. It weakens PDK forcing the cancer cells to rely on glucose oxidation which does not favor them. Hence they will starve and die.

Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) is an experienced integrative cancer doctor that has helped many cancer patients in their fight against the disease. She has worked hard not only in treating the disease but also in availing informational support to cancer patients at Awaremed which has become a place called home for many cancer patients. Call on her now and get help on cancer.